CFDBNYC Out and About

The Queen Of Manhattan which is a biopic of sorts. It follows the story of legendary adult film icon Vanessa Del Rio from the 70s to the early eighties. By using Times Square as the backdrop for the illegal activities that took place in that era, the film gives the viewer a look at how the industry and the people who got into it were controlled. Drugs were rampant. Sex was lawless and unregulated also this was during the height of the AIDS epidemic. No tests. No evaluation just sex on film and everyone got paid. Featuring Esai Morales, Drea de Matteo and Vivian Lamolli as Vanessa Del Rio, the film starts from her days being a streetwalker and almost getting arrested for doing so into going to her boss who uses Vanessa and her friend to be in short films. Director Thomas Mignone who work on Vanessa’s story for several years got the opportunity to distribute and finish the film and to us it was worth it. Everything about Queen Of Manhattan is consistent with the period from the language to the clothing to even the city life. Watching it puts you in a time warp and makes you think how people continue to have reckless sex lives during the AIDS epidemic especially with no screening. We watch Vanessa go through several emotions throughout the movie and each emotion we see Vivian gets better with her performance. Several of the Sopranos cast are scattered throughout the film and each one shows they still the chops to go another round in the iconic series. David Proval who played Richie in the Sopranos is a focal point in Queen where it’s his money financing all the porn that Manhattan produces. From there Drea is his right hand who keeps the girls in check and sees that they paid but as we see in the film she do have a breaking point. Another great performance is Taryn Manning who seems to have the strung out white girl role down to a science. She fits her role well and even gives the movie a soft touch with her carefree ways of living even though she gets beating up during it. Another role played by Shane West is well played due to the time period. A gay man who is effected by the early AIDS epidemic and trying to take down crime that he sees fit. He definitely give the film a sense of urgency because every scene he’s in you think it’s a race against him losing his boyfriend. The script was really heavy on 80s news clippings since you see organized crime running rampant and police never having control of the area so federal law enforcement comes in. It seem cliche at first but you realize it is needed when the directors of porn are being intimidating by their bosses. The Queen of Manhattan is a interesting take on what it looks and feel like in New York City in 1980 and it’s refreshing given the main character backstory. Mignone definitely manage to get Vanessa’s story out here and did a great job in bringing old fans and connoisseurs alike to revisit the wild seventies and eighties while remembering one of porn’s earliest superstars.

Nova Twins – Parasites and Butterflies.
The third album from Nova Twins is in your face punk rock with a mix of feminity in. From the opening track Glory the guitars and drums starts off booming and the twins start wailing, you know that you’re in for a wild ride. Glory sets the tone of the entire album: Wild, Hyper, Knowing one’s identity and of course girl anthems. The next track Piranha shows that no one safe from the twins especially when the chorus kicks in. “Something in the water” showcases the strength of the twins in their chorus selection. The guitars and keyboards clash in this song perfectly. Monsters is up next and since it was the single release to introduce the album it is a great pop record with an adventurous sound and great lyrics. Not too cheesy but enough to tease the fans for more. Soprano and Drip are the next two tracks that describe the first half of the album brilliantly: High energy and hyperactive. Even though Rich Costey produced the entire album you can tell he give them free reign to express their lyrical output and instrumental range. From there N.O.V.A. hits and the energy turns up a notch. Lyrically this is the best song off the whole album. The girls definitely let their imagination run wild and from there their expression gets bolder and stronger. A example of this is Parallel Universe where the girls definitely talks bold and the music behind them backs it up, The most frenetic song on the album is this one and it works so well. Very uptempo and can be easily played in any club (or bar for that matter) Parallel Universe is one of the better songs of the album.
When you towards the end of the album the energy is still turn up but the songs loses some steam lyric wise when Hide and Seek plays as if the album is on auto pilot and gets cruises from there. After that the last three songs are consistent with winding down. The album is a constant rage fest for those who want to do so all day for ones who do so accordingly this is not the album for them. As great as Nova Twins are it seems with Parasites and Butterflies they’re on the cusp on breaking out overseas here in the States but not there yet. This is a great building block to work on for the next album where their sound by that time will be more refined and well rounded. A great effort here but maybe left undesired for some. I would probably say this is definitely one of the better UK imports of this year and continues the tradition of modern day UK punk. The songs to watch for are: Glory, Parallel Universe, N.O.V.A, Monsters and Drip. The rest are avoidable and mostly for one listen only. If you looking for a rating here I’ll say it’s eight out of ten.

We got to check out 40 Acres, the post apocalyptic thriller directed by R.T Thorne and written by Thorne and Lora Campbell. The film stars Danielle Deadwylder in the lead, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O’Connor as a family who are descendants of African American farmers who settled in Canada after the first Civil War and now face a army of flesh eating people intent on stealing their home. From that tagline alone we got excited about the film and realized we in for something different.

The opening of the film starts the family fighting off a military group who wants their food ration. From there you knew this film was going to be action until the end and it delivered with some drama in between. The narrative of the film is more about survival, it’s about trust and family. You can tell the screenwriting was very detailed in American history and it’s relationship with Canada(not the present day) The dialogue between Hailey (Deadwylder) and Galen(Greyeyes) after the opening standoff is great and Kataem O’Connor as Emanuel aka Manny is the focal point for most of the themes in the film. His mannerisms throughout the film is spectacular because you can see he’s still learning about himself while fighting off cannibals. As the film progress Manny gets enamored with a girl at the lake who towards the middle of the film becomes the reason of trouble laying ahead for Manny’s family. There were great acting along with the brilliant action sequences. For example Raine played by Leenah Robinson have some of the best lines in the film and becomes a funny character in certain spots of the film. The use of the farmland and wooden hills of Ontario is great for this film. The similarities between this film and the other flesh eating films is minimal but needed and the discrepancy is minimal. The fact this film lead is a black woman is a big step where people can see themselves fighting off cannibals is a different emotion because of the lack of leads in horror films is great.

Overall 40 Acres is a great film to see for the adults and for those drive in dates especially in the middle of July. Highly recommended by the staff here. Enjoy the film on VOD or in a limited theatre run.